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This is from 1st District candidate Robert Conaway involving Mitzelfelt and Kari Verjil.
Mitzelfelt voted to sue Debra Bowen, the California Secretary of State when she insisted that safety protocols be implemented to make sure the voting machines were accurately recording and reporting votes. County money (approved by Mitzelfelt) was spent on the lawyers to stop the California Secretary of State’s efforts to protect our votes from machine error and or tampering. The County LOST at trial (and the Secretary of State who wanted to make sure all our votes were counted, won). Mitzelfelt again seeking to deny our right to have ALL votes counted, authorized an appeal of the trial result and AGAIN THE COUNTY LOST (and we, the voters, won). The County was forced to use paper ballots–the result–the democrats turned more voters out and their votes were counted. Mitzelfelt wanted to force us to use voting machines that before this past primary, always seemed to reflect a stronger voter turnout for republicans (was the electronic fix on??). There were reports of machines in the election which put Postmus in the Assessor’s Office being turned on BEFORE anyone started voting & generating paper verifications of votes cast showing the someone had voted for Postmus–the only problem is that no one had voted on the machines yet! The machine irregularities were reported. The County picked the machines and the paper verifications of the cast voted. When letters were sent to the County Registrar to ask what had come of the investigation, predictably, the County (Postmus was chair of the County Board of Supervisors) ignored the letters. Not until Debra Bowen came into office and reviewed the evidence, was anything done. The machines the County used in the election which elected Postmus to office were found to not be accurate. The only protection available was to use paper ballots–which as stated above, Mitzelfelt, Postmus’ former chief of staff, voted to prevent. WHY WOULD MITZELFELT WANT TO USE MACHINES WITH INACCURATE COUNTS? (maybe that was the difference in the very tight election with former assessor Williamson??)
This is the text of the screen shot at top, on the Fiasco at the Polls Across the Board - November 9, 2006- Daily Press story .
Fiasco at the polls across the board: Wrong paper ballots, electronic glitches among problems.
Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Publication Date: 09-NOV-06
Byline: Gretchen Losi
Nov. 9--VICTORVILLE -- Bernadette Mc-Nulty is a second-generation polling inspector. She has worked in an official capacity for some 25 years and is now a volunteer polling observer for the Republican Party.
In her history as an inspector, she has worked more than 20 elections -- but Tuesday she said she witnessed some of the worst snafus ever.
"We wouldn't have these problems with paper ballots," she said.
She spent the day at several precincts throughout the Victor Valley and recorded everything from machines breaking down, running out of paper and incorrect paper ballots to a simple lack of volunteers.
The Registrar of Voters did not return calls for details. Many ROV officials left early due to the late night election and others were in meetings all afternoon according to ROV executive secretary Kathy Jackson.
One problem that alarmed McNulty occurred when at one precinct the electronic machine had prerecorded votes, yet the seal had not been broken.
She said ROV officials came in to clear the machine before it was used.
At Jess Ranch, the largest precinct in Apple Valley, there were only four machines, creating long lines. She observed 51 residents, many elderly and infirm, standing in line.
"They eventually got fed up and left," McNulty said.
At another polling location, 15 people were still in line nearly an hour after the polls had closed. She said this happened after six of the nine machines had run out of paper by 7 p.m. and 15 minutes later the precinct ran out of paper ballots.
"This happened all over," she said.
It has been confirmed that electronic machines stopped working throughout the Victor Valley -- including Helendale, Phelan, Apple Valley, Victorville, Hesperia and Barstow.
And the alternative paper ballots only created another set of problems.
When the electronic machines stopped at the National Guard Armory in Apple Valley, voters were issued ballots for Victorville.
"They called the ROV troubleshooter but he never came to help," she said. "When they finally did receive them, they were missing all the Town Council candidates."
The same type of thing happened in Helendale where paper ballots were missing school board candidates and Measure K.
Other problems McNulty said need addressing -- absentee votes.
Many who vote absentee didn't receive their information until after the deadline.
"The ROV said the post office doesn't always deliver the information in time," she said.
By law, voters are to receive their absentee ballots by a certain time, McNulty said.
Even more alarming was the ability to vote absentee and then vote again at the polls.
She said there is supposed to be a master roster with an "A" after the name of all permanent absentee voters, but that wasn't the case for McNulty.
"I went to my precinct and looked at the roster and there was no "A" by my name. Theoretically I could have voted again. Of course I didn't."
Another problem, she said, exists -- the ability of the dead to cast a vote.
The registrar is supposed to purge the voting rolls of all the dead, but when her father died it took three elections before the ROV recognized it.
"So people could easily vote using the name of a dead person. This type of thing happens a lot," she said.
She added that police and volunteer escorts need to follow the trucks that carry the ballots. For Spring Valley Lake, she was able to find volunteers, but several went unescorted.
On a positive note, she did say this year she was delighted to see so many young people volunteering.
Gretchen Losi may be reached at 951-6233 or gretchen_losi@link.freedom. com.
This was the Daily Press story that ran in December of 2006. A full month after the November 2006 election. There were more then a few problems in the High Desert, running out of ballots,the wrong ballots at polling places, having people vote on blank pieces of paper, no record of registered voters at the polling places, hours of waiting at the polls, etc.
Board certifies votes
Approval comes after hearing opposing comments
By RYAN ORR Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO — Despite public testimony about problems at the polls from High Desert residents, the certification of the Nov. 7 election results was accepted Tuesday by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
“The backbone of freedom is elections,” said Apple Valley resident Trudy Sherburne, who stated at the board meeting that the results of the election were not reliable. “Please give us a fair election,” she added.
Seven people stood before the board to voice their concerns and encourage the panel’s members not to accept the results that were certified Friday by Kari Verjil, the registrar of voters.
“The integrity of the election is not in question,” said Verjil, proclaiming confidence in her staff and the fact that the supervisors should accept the certification.
Verjil said she was aware of isolated incidents, but that problems during the election were in no way widespread. She said it is possible poll workers could have handed out the wrong type of ballot and she believes that happened in Helendale.
“An election cannot be canceled due to a poll worker error,” said Verjil.
She also said the number of ballots possibly affected would not have changed the outcome of Measure K, which called for the adoption of a Helendale community services district, which passed by 12 votes.
“In a county with 2 million residents, there are going to be a few hiccups,” said 1st District spokesman David Zook.
Verjil and her 40 employees are charged with the task of serving the 751,652 eligible voters in the county, and overall she said she thinks the latest election went well.
Steve Schoenbaum of Helendale disagrees. He is part of the Committee in Opposition of Measure K.
“I would like to see something happen,” he said. “If the election would have gone off without a hitch, I would have no problem admitting that we lost.”
He is not sure how the committee will approach the subject, but today is the last day to demand a recount, which would cost those who demand it approximately $5,000 a day, according to Verjil.
The other option would be to pursue litigation on the matter, which can be done within 30 days of when the vote was certified. The five directors of the Helendale community services district were sworn in Monday at 4 p.m.
As for future elections, “I’m looking forward to improving the system and training the poll workers,” said Verjil.
Verjil has been the county’s registrar since June of 2005, the third in six years not including interim positions.
Scott Konopasek, a native of Victorville, was in the position before Verjil. He served as registrar from January 2003 to November 2004. San Bernardino County Public Information Officer David Wert said Konopasek left office after making a snide comment about elderly people.
“He said, ‘Whenever you have 70-year-old people running things you’re going to have problems,’ talking about certain poll workers,” Wert said.
He also had a reputation for getting results out late.
“He was not very popular on election night,” Wert said.
Before Konopasek, Ingrid Gonzales had the office. She left in March 2002 as a consequence of the November 2001 election where, due to a computer glitch, results were posted under the wrong candidates, making some people think they had won, when they had actually lost. Because of the glitch, 13 races were recounted at the county’s cost.
Here's a story from March of 2006 that just sort of faded away. What happened to the DA's investigation of this voter registration fraud scam? Oh right, it was Postmus who hired the guy accused of the fraud to register Republican voters. Sorry, Ramos can't investigate anything Postmus.
Daily Press ARCHIVED STORY
Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Fraud suspected in voter registering
County's Republican Party asks for investigation by district attorney
By TRACIE TROHA
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO — The San Bernardino County Republican Party has asked the District Attorney's office to investigate more than 3,000 instances of voter registration fraud during the past two months.
The party alleges the fraud may have been committed by individuals hired by the GOP's voter registration consultant, John Burkett of Riverside, to conduct registration drives in the county.
Kari Verjil, county registrar of voters, said many of the registration forms the county received from the drives had the same last four digits of a social security number and did not have the required driver license numbers.
"There is a possibility that someone made up the last four social security numbers to turn the cards in," Verjil said.
Republican staffers and the Registrar of Voters office also found registration forms filled out by a coordinator rather than a registrant and received complaint letters from registrants who were not U.S. citizens or did not register as Republican.
County Republican Party Chairman Bill Postmus said he halted the paid voter registration program and ordered that no one involved in the registration drives be paid until the county's investigation is complete and all the forms are verified as authentic.
The party also hasn't paid Burkett's firm for any voter registrations this year.
"I spoke to Mike Ramos, the district attorney, this morning and asked for an immediate investigation with respect to this," Postmus said. "These people need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
Verjil said a member of her staff will also be contacting some of the voters by mail to ask for their driver license numbers in order to verify authenticity.
Verjil and Postmus said these alleged acts of fraud were caught through the state's new Cal Validator system. The system, first introduced in January, checks newly registered voters against their state driver license or social security numbers.
"Prior to January 1 California election officials didn't have the ability to verify each and every registration card in this manner," said Adam Aleman, county GOP Executive Director.
Postmus said he does not believe High Desert residents were impacted by the possible case of fraud.
San Bernardino residents who believe they may have been improperly registered to vote should call the Registrar of Voters office at 909-387-8300.
Tracie Troha can be reached at 955-5358 or at ttroha@vvdailypress.com.
